Two months before the election
Kremlin propagandist criticizes Putin – arrest
Updated July 17, 2026 – 8:57 p.mReading time: 2 minutes
Former Kremlin propagandist Remeslo’s political about-face came as a surprise. But now Putin’s power apparatus is striking.
Because of his sharp criticism of the Russian president Vladimir Putin Well-known ex-Kremlin propagandist Ilya Remeslo has been arrested. Russian media published a video of the blogger lying on the ground and wearing only his underwear. The state news agency Tass had previously reported on the arrest, citing investigators. Remeslo was arrested on charges of spreading false news about the Russian army, it said.
Remeslo is going from his home in St. Petersburg to the capital Moscow his lawyer Sergei Badamshin said. According to a statement, a court there ordered pre-trial detention for almost two months. In March, Remeslo described Kremlin leader Putin as a thief, a war criminal and an illegitimate president. He also complained about the political and economic dead end that Putin had led the country into with the war in Ukraine.
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He was then unexpectedly admitted to a psychiatric clinic. Until then, Remeslo had made a name for himself primarily as a supporter of Kremlin politics and as an informer of the Russian opposition. After his release from the clinic, he continued his criticism of Putin and the conditions in the country Russia continued – and caused astonishment among many commentators that the power apparatus let him get away with it.
Kremlin nervous before election – Putin’s approval ratings are falling
With a view to the parliamentary elections on September 20th, Remeslo said that Putin’s political end was near and that new times would dawn in the country. Before the election of the new State Duma – the name of the parliament in Russia – there is great nervousness in view of the fallen approval ratings for Putin and the Kremlin party United Russia.
Russian media reported that Putin’s approval ratings fell by a record five percentage points within a week. According to one Opinion poll According to the state polling institute FOM, 66 percent of those surveyed rated the president’s work as good. This was the sharpest decline in a week since Putin’s war of aggression against them began Ukraine more than four years ago.
Commentators said that people were becoming increasingly dissatisfied under conditions of war and increasing repression. Specifically, many Russians are annoyed by a lack of gasoline after Ukrainian drone attacks on oil refineries and about the blocking of social networks and websites.
